吕佳伦校长

Our children are blessed with love and care from the adults/elders around them. Looking at Nanyang’s progress and achievements, there is indeed much to celebrate about its illustrious hundred years of school history. Our predecessors have left us a wonderful legacy which we must now continue to uphold and build upon. Let us ride on the rich heritage of Nanyang and the fortitude of our dedicated staff in guiding our pupils to be confident and well-rounded individuals who will move with time and dare to sail away from the safe harbour, yet will stay rooted to exhortations and values established by our forefathers.

The world is fast changing. Our pupils are faced with a future that is increasingly Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA). It will be impossible for them to deal with the future challenges in a reactive mode. Are our pupils ready to embrace the reality of VUCA and be resilient and adaptive enough to navigate the VUCA environment effectively?

Pearls are beautiful and precious. However, its formation is a long and painful process for the oyster. Oysters are simple creatures that live in water and feed on planktons, or micro-organisms. Occasionally, while feeding, grains of sand enter the oyster and are lodged in the soft inner part of the oyster’s body. This causes the oyster great discomfort. In order to protect itself, the oyster secretes a smooth substance called nacre around the sand grain. The oyster continues to deposit nacre around it, layer by layer. After a number of years, the grain of sand will be totally encased in a smooth, lustrous shell of nacre, which has now become a pearl. Unbeknownst to the oyster, it has responded to the irritation by forming a beautiful pearl. I hope our pupils will take cognizance of the formation of these beautiful pearls in nature and embrace changes and difficulties as opportunities for them to develop discernment, foster confidence, engender greater compassion, as well as grow their mind and emotional breadth. As long as they keep a positive attitude, strive to do their best and hold true to the school values – to be Learners of Character and Leaders in Action, they will grow and blossom to be the confident and responsible citizens of Singapore.

Educating a child is much like growing a tree. It takes many years for the young seedling to grow deep roots and develop its splendour. Likewise, nurturing our pupils as confident learners take time. With grounded values and unwavering purpose, we stand steadfast in doing the right things and doing things right for the pupils. The teachers in Nanyang Primary School, though with diverse and varied experiences, strive and act on the shared mission to develop our pupils to reach their fullest potential within a bicultural environment that is steeped in diligence, prudence, respectability and simplicity, thereby enabling them to contribute to society.

Passionate and dedicated teachers are key to the development of our pupils. With concerted efforts and support from the School Management Committee, Alumni and parents, we will nurture our pupils, enrich their learning, appreciate their innate capabilities and bring out the best in them so that they will grow, blossom and shape tomorrow.